Sunday, October 14, 2007

'Girlfriends' S8.2 Review: "Baghdad, My Bad"

This past week on 'Girlfriends' focused on the aftermath of the arrival of a letter that informed Aaron that his National Guard Unit had been called to Iraq. After the teaser and opening credits (which I love!), the episode picks up immediately after Joan and Aaron had their WHAT?! moment (along with the audience) at the end of "Range of Emotions."

Joan and Aaron talk a little bit about why Aaron was even in the Nat'l Guard to begin with, and like I had suspected, it was because he needed help paying tuition back in the day so he signed up during peace time and never expected to be called into the war because his time was up in only four months from now. Now that his time has been extended, Aaron has to be dropped off to the base or port I guess by Joan with his uniform on and all in the next few days.

Everyone has a big going away party for Aaron and there is a cute guy-bonding scene with Aaron, William, and Darnell where William and Darnell give Aaron a bullet-proof vest and Aaron asks them to watch over Joan while he's gone. I really liked the party scene because it was the four girls (Joan, Maya, Lynn, and Monica) bonding while the guys (William, Darnell, and Aaron) having their male-bonding moments which started with William and Darnell last season.

During the drive to the base, Aaron falls alseep and Joan drives them to Mexico in an effort to escape Aaron's service, but Aaron reasons with Joan as they come to terms with this tragic turn of events... Joan tells Aaron that she wants to be married to him and that he can't go because she is so happy with him, etc. So Aaron suggests they get married right there in Mexico in a little church. Impulsively, Joan and Aaron agree that that's the best plan of action, but after a funny miscommunication with the priest, Joan says that this is not how she wants it to happen. She heartfeltly explains that if they get married now, it'll partly be because she doesn't really believe that Aaron will ever come home from the war, and she truly believes that he will come back to her. So they don't tie the knot and Joan drops Aaron off.

When Joan arrives home, she breaks down in her empty kitchen and cries. It was so sad... she finally has her happiness and it's ripped out from under her, but I do hope that Aaron makes it back to Joan and she has her huge dream wedding.

The other parts of the episode: (1) Lynn gets a great manager and (2) William and Monica "help" her celebrate even though it was kindo of awkward and funny; and (3) Maya finds a bag of weed in Jabari's dresser and immediately blames the poor boy even though he knows it isn't his, (4) it turns out to be Darnell's from his depresseive funk after he and Maya split, (5) so the Wilkes family takes Jabari out as a way to cover up their false accusations without telling Jabari that it was Darnell's.-------Here's the episode preview uploaded by me!

I really enjoyed this episode! I love how 'Girlfriends' pairs great tragedy with comedic timings of funniness from the rest of the cast with their little side-stories. I do feel horrible for Joan though, but I know she will be fine. Oh and I loved how even in the midst of Joan and Aaron's heartbreak, Joan was still able to celebrate Lynn's success at the end of the episode with Maya and Monica. The show still keeps it fresh and that's why I love the realism mixed within the familiar structure of the sitcom.

What's in a name?

I named this blog Oh Hell Yes! because on one of my favorite shows, "Girlfriends", the character of Maya wrote a self-help book with the same name. It was an overnight success and some of the excerpts that were read on the show were downright hilarious.

'Girlfriends' Soundtrack

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